Seems like I notice several members on here talks about beekeeping.
I've had bees for years & was wondering how many more here enjoys the hobby also. ;D
I enjoy it very much, it's almost like therapy.
How many stands do you have?
I am taking a short course on beekeeping with my wife, as we are just learning about it. Ideally, I would like to have a couple of hives on my property, and have an experienced beekeeper work them and show me the ropes for a year or two. He/she can have the honey for the time being, I just want to learn the right way to do things. From what I am hearing, it takes a fair amount of experience to keep hives through the winter, dependent upon lots of factors.
I like it, I have 2 hives, I like the spring honey, I let them have the 2 honey run,I looked the outher day and one hive the bees are at the top eating the sugar and pollen pattys, and the outher one not up yet
feed the bees now or they will starve. well in NH, we have snow :D :D :D :D
One of the most interesting and gratifying projects I've had was developing a glass observation bee hive. Mother's glassed-in front porch was ideal; I bore a hole through the window framing and put a clear tubing about 18" long and a 'flight-deck' outside for the honey bees to land safely. The glass hive was one large brood frame in size with back and front glassed.
As the worker bees came into the glass hive they would usually do their little dance as other workers would gather around to take in the directions before trudging off back through the tubing to seek-out the pollen or nectar.
Another interesting facet, was how the bees guarded and fed the queen and brood....and then, there were the drones...always the drones waiting for their handouts and a remote chance of mating the queen.
chain with the glass the bees will not fly a way and not want to come back if thay see people or lots of movement when i was little my dad cut a few trees that was ful of honey but in the last 20+ years we havent found any seems like thay are dieing off or got good hideing spots
I kept bees for years but gave it up a few years back. I learned a lot from an old-timer. One of his lessons was on marketing at street carnivals and the like. I would pull one frame out of an active hive with bees intact and put it in a glass observation hive. Would set it up right in the middle of my table and you could almost draw 2 chalk lines on the ground showing the paths of young kids and adults. The kids path would be a "beeline" to the hive as soon as they saw it and the adults path would be an arch around it. :D
I would take one of my combs out of my "comb honey" super (no reinforcing wires) and cut it into about 1" cubes. Put a few on a plate with a toothpick in each and sell them for a quarter. Old timers would buy for all their grandkids so they could see what comb honey tasted like. If business got slow my mentor told me to grab a group of kids and give each of them a quarter to stand in line for the comb honey. Human nature when they see a line is to join it and sales would pick back up. 8)
My beekeeping is only at the hobby level. I entered the winter with 4 hives, but last week I notice one was lost. The hive was week and the swarm not big enough to keep the hive warm. I've began feeding them and the remaining seem to be healthy. I usually average 100+ pints of honey annually and give most of it away.... that's just me. I always try to build new hives from nucs, so I'll be keeping a close eye on the strongest hive(s) this spring. Splitting hives reduces swarms and make for cheap beekeeping. I also give the the schools a show and tell on bees and give each student a small "Honey Bear" to take home. It's a big hit, and most enjoyable. Good luck it you decide on beekeeping. More folks need to do the same.
Always been interested but about as far as it ever got. Years past it seemed like we cut lots of bee trees but the last ten years it seems like the hives are aways gone only the comb. People tell me its a mite thats killing them.
My dad used to have about 30 hives, more of a large hobby than anything else. I wanted to continue when he passed, but I had gotten stung enough to develop an alergic reaction, so no more bees for me.
I have one hive in my backyard. Used to have a hive at Raider Bill's house too but it was killed by carpenter ants last fall. hopefully i can split this hive and put one back in his yard.
if not there is always the nuc option
Brought this back up,It's that time of year again, 8)
Seen my bee's start bring in some pollen,
Hopefully the weather will hold :snowball: so I can work with them today & tomorrow afternoon.Come on spring time ;D ;D
You are correct coxy. The bees are dying off in alot of locations. One of the biggest reasons they are suspecting is called CCD or colony collapse disorder. They are pointing very heavily to a particular pesticide that is causing alot of the colonies to die. There are also the varroa mite and the small hive beetle which have devestated some apiaries. Both are imports from Africa. I have had to stop raising them due to health issues, but down here in the south they can be pretty tough to raise sometimes. Also another problem that has killed some of my hives was the wax moth. They will destroy a hive if not tended to and watched very close down here. There has been a big movement over the last few years for people to start raising bees because of the low number and the great importance of these little fellows. If you get interested in raising them, check with your local bee keepers. Some states even have grant money to give to people who will start 2 or more hives. It is interesting and rewarding but there is quite a bit of work involved also. I have heard it is quite a bit harder down here because of the other insects and such.
Mine all froze to cold for too long, for the last 4 years there were ok but not this year :(
I was going to get some nukes, but Ann and I have honey up the you know what ;D I'm going to set out some hives and see If I can get some swarms of bees. I did last year in the yard.
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Hello bama20a. Do you have alot of problems with small hive beetles and voroa mites? And what about those wax moths? I hope yours have survived the tough winter we are having.
I'd love to have some hives, but a few problems:
1) I'm a bit sensitive to yellow jacket stings (joints ache real bad) so I think bee stings might develop issues as well. ::)
2) My son is very reactive to bee stings. Don't want to risk his life. :(
3) One of my stupid dogs hunts bees.
In the summer when we are all in the pool swimming, the one dog watches the flowering plants and pounces on bees. They sting her in the mouth so she spits them out and stomps on them. Then she eats them. Stupid dog! :D When it gets really hot, the bees land on the wet pool deck looking for water. She'll wait there for them as well. Now, when she gets a yellow jacket - look out! They just keep stinging over and over.
Quote from: LaneC on February 23, 2014, 12:47:48 PM
Hello bama20a. Do you have alot of problems with small hive beetles and voroa mites? And what about those wax moths? I hope yours have survived the tough winter we are having.
Hello Lane: Don't seem to have a problem with the Small hive beetles,or mite's.
I have not treated mine in over 7 years & they seem to be doing fine.Went into 4 hives today because of the wood rotting,Seen afew SHB,but very few,
The one that did have the most is in the shade,I've heard they are worst there.So I'm going to move them out next weekend.Mark,,,,
Peter that is a nice swarm, Catch all you can ;D
You may already know,But you can put a few drops of lemon grass oil inside of a box & the scout bees will find it,
When I had bees in Mississippi,We would catch a lot of them doing that.
I took a real beating this winter. Today it was 55° so I checked the hives. Lost half of the 24 hives I have. Fed the remaining ones. They hit that syrup like they've never eaten.
Called around looking for replacement nukes but everyone said the same....to much work and not enough money in it :(
That is good that you dont have them bad. I never treated mine with anything, I just went totally pesticide free. They sure tore mine up though. I learned a great deal about paying attention to detail and things like that from raising them. I hope they all survive, good luck.
I will be curious to know if our bee tree bees survived the winter....they survived the drought somehow. I've checked on them for about fives years, they're up in a large red oak about thirty feet.
I know practically nothing about beekeeping. Apparently that is going to change. My son-in-law asked if he could keep bees on our property and our address is now registered as an apiary.
Noticed in a southern agriculture journal an article about honeybee awareness insofar as harming the bees from agriculture spraying operations. They say the time of day for worker bees that are most active between 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Highly variable I would think.
Also, the Mississippi Farm Bureau has initiated a awareness program for honeybees and will distribute "Bee Aware" flags [black & Yellow] to alert field workers, farmers, aerial sprayers, and others of nearby bee hives.
im good friends with a full time bee keeper. he sells on farmers markets in the area. its tough to make it right now with this shortage of bees (thank gmo corn) and there are new dieseases springing up that kill bees... but people are going crazy over cream honey and raw exctract honey at the farmers markets
ahhhhhhhhh Bees.... Where do I start.
We started last season with 15 hives. Added a few nice swarms for a total of 19. Gave a couple more swarms to a friend for his start. This winter has been murder. Long story short we have 2 hives right now and I'm hoping they make it the rest of the winter.
Wife and I have been doing bees for ~10 years and it's a labor of love and frustration. We have had as many as 22 hives and now 2 is the low water mark. Our regular honey customers are not going to be happy! But this too shall pass and I hope we can catch a few nice swarms this spring and recover.
John
orion388, have you been feeding your bees this winter?
bama20a Did you usually feed your bees and if so did you ever put any thyme or anything else in the feed.(I usually fed them suger water in an open feeder) I was just wondering because i tried all that and had the mites and all pretty much under control by doing it when I had to quit working them.
I had two hives for a few years. I'm not sure if it could be called beekeeping though, it was more like beekilling. Couldn't keep them happy. We had a great spot and even have sourwood trees in our woods along with tulip poplar and a clearing planted in clover. The pests were just too much. I might as well have put dollars to burn in the smoker!
MattJ,just call it a hobby. You never make money on a hobby. I have lots of hobbies. ;D
Quote from: ryguy777 on February 25, 2014, 09:20:16 PM
orion388, have you been feeding your bees this winter?
we did early. but after the weather turned and stayed cold for a month or better they died out. we do not normally have day after day of -12 weather here. but this year we multiple days in a row where it never got above single digits. hives of the froze out ones are all full of honey.
Yes, there was never the intent of making any money. It actually started with me temporarily hosting the hives for a family member and temp became permanent. I surely have plenty of hobbies, my wife can vouch for that! I tend to break even though on most or at least save some cash making furniture for myself, bartering with neighbors, etc. Beekeeping though was absolutely frustrating for me. We also had them during a really bad drought period and the pests here in NC just make it a bit of an uphill battle. Looking back as well I think we really had the wrong variety of bees (Italians) for the challenges we had.
If you have honey bees at your pool there may be a beekeeper close.
Bees need a lot of water when its hot. Beekeepers should be putting water out for them, if not they will find water.
Putting water close to hives saves them a lot of work. Work is why they only live about 40-45 days.
It takes two million flowers and 55,000 mi. to make 1 lb. of honey.
An average worker bee collects 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its life.
Honey bees are not native to America.
Honey bees do a dance which tells other bees where nectar an pollen was located. This dance explains direction and distance.
Honey bees visit 1500 flowers to get one load of pollen.
Honey bees travel up to 5 miles.
A Queen leaves the hive 1 but not more then 2 times to mate for life, the lays about 1000 eggs a day and usually do not live more that five years.
Healthy colony contains around 60,000 bees.
Checked on our 3 hives last week. All dead. Lots of honey left. I guess they just froze, what with all the unusually cold weather we had this year.
Quote from: POC on March 08, 2014, 01:49:44 AM
Checked on our 3 hives last week. All dead. Lots of honey left. I guess they just froze, what with all the unusually cold weather we had this year.
If the cluster was strong when they went into winter & as you said with a lot of honey,Most likely they had mites,It is hard to freeze a good strong hive out,
I had no mites and a very big cluster and they froze. :)
we really want bees but have no idea where to start. there is a man down the road that has them but im not really good at getting out and talking to people. tis year we have been overwhelmed with bees all around the sawmill. hundreds of them maybe thousands. if I made or bought a hive could I possibly catch that swarm? do I have to buy a queen? we also have very few flowers but will be planting a bunch this year along with fruit trees. all but about an acre of our 30 acres is wooded.
You can start at
http://mostatebeekeepers.org/local-associations/
You have to buy a nuc(s) or package(s) to get bees or someone's split(s).
Of course you need woodenware, frames, tools, jacket, vail, gloves, something to set the hives on.
Best to find a mentor and you need to get moving now to be ready by the first week of April. If you buy used woodenware and frames you can get diseases or something. If you buy new you need to get them painted.
When you start out new don't expect much the first year, your starting out with only a few bees, a 3lb. package is only about 10,000 to 13,000 bees give or take.
Also it takes a lot to build out comb before the Queen can start laying eggs and workers storing honey and pollen.
Oh, did I say it's best to find a mentor.
thanks den! I may need to go out of my comfort zone and go talk to the guy up the road. i have met him a couple times and he was very nice. if I hurry maybe I could get it going this year.
That guy might know who brings package bees up from the south in your area.
If you have a wood shop you can make the supers, bottom board, cover and inner cover. Just copy the wooden ware. Lorenso Lorraine Langstroth invented the hive we use now, 1885.
In my area a Mennonite builds and sells wooden ware, he has the best prices.
If you order from a catalog shipping is expensive.
Some things you'll have to get from a catalog like Dadant & Sons Inc.
Hamilton, IL
Quote from: den on March 08, 2014, 05:48:38 PM
You can start at
http://mostatebeekeepers.org/local-associations/
...
Oh, did I say it's best to find a mentor.
Yes, yes.
Contact the local association. Cannot emphasis that enough. There you will find guidance and assistance in getting you started. You also may find a bunch of freebies courtesy of your state's taxpayers funneled through the associations by the state apiarist. That's the way it works here, maybe there.
Bees are in such decline in some places that many states are counting on what are essentially hobbyist beekeepers to keep our food crops pollinated.
Go for it.
I make all of my [wooden ware] :)
Peter, what do you use for a plan? I've been thinking a little bit about beekeeping.
Quote from: Dave Shepard on March 09, 2014, 09:15:30 AM
Peter, what do you use for a plan? I've been thinking a little bit about beekeeping.
What plan are asking for?
There's a guy about 15 minutes from me that contacted me. He wanted me to do some keeping around here. Not really into the bee thing,I have a lot going on here. Than he asked if he could put some on my land himself. He likes to try different areas, I told him sure,but he never did. This guy was real helpful. I know he would help anybody to get going. A real nice guy.
I was just wondering what you used for plans to build the beehives.
Dave,
When I first got started, I got a store bought one. And just made the same thing. Then over the years I made them to suit me. I tried to make the wood part of the frame. I can do it, but It's a pain so I just buy the frames now.
Lots of times in the winter I make new stuff and trade it out in the spring.
There's a new supper out now that's made out of Styrofoam .
Do any one out here use them? I would like to know how you like them.
You can also get a book called , Beekeeping for Dummies . It chock full of useful info
Quote from: Dave Shepard on March 09, 2014, 08:05:53 PM
I was just wondering what you used for plans to build the beehives.
Here's where I got the plans I have used.
http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/ (http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/)
Quote from: yukon cornelius on March 08, 2014, 04:47:01 PM
we really want bees but have no idea where to start. there is a man down the road that has them but im not really good at getting out and talking to people. tis year we have been overwhelmed with bees all around the sawmill. hundreds of them maybe thousands. if I made or bought a hive could I possibly catch that swarm? do I have to buy a queen? we also have very few flowers but will be planting a bunch this year along with fruit trees. all but about an acre of our 30 acres is wooded.
Being a man down the road has bee's most likely they swarm,You can place an empty hive out,(I've had better luck if place about head high around 6',off the ground,You can order swarm lure from a place like Mann Lake bee supply,But I've had good luck using Lemon grass oil.
Due to work I've had to just about quit working with the bee's (one bee yard I havn't even been there in over 6 years until today,
I'm down to 35 hives total,Having to replace a lot of wood ware,
At one time my son & I had around 200,hives
I don't want that many any more,But if the good lord willing I'm wanting to retire this june 8).
I'd like to get back up to 75-100,& start raising & selling queen"s,At least I can dream ;D.
bama20a,we all need to dream. 200 hives? :o That is a lot.Were they in the same area?
Just a tip here. There is a gentleman on you tube who is an excellent teacher and also has plans and all. He is "the fat bee man" He answers a lot of questions and is very very knowledgeable. The name is funny but he really has a lot of things that he teaches in beekeeping, Just a source to help anyone interested.
Look up the barefoot beekeeper if you are interested. He has FREE plans for a Top Bar Beehive.
I've built 4 TBH's and have two out, ready, and waiting for packages to come later this month! I will either sell the other two or just have them ready in case I get a call on a swarm or two!
I used to have a few hives in Tucson. Really nice mesquite and palo verde honey. Used to be we just had to deal with American foulbrood and wax moths. Then came acarine mite, varroa mite and africanized bees from Mexico. It got to be so much work keeping the colonies healthy, what was already marginal became just not worth it. Then my colony of africanized bees decided to mass attack my daughter in the yard, swelled her face shut and made her sick for several days. Time to get rid of them before one of my neighbors sued me. :(
I do miss the bees and the honey, though. :-\
we checked our 4 hives this morning. wasnt sure what to expect after this harsh florida winter. it got down to the 40's one night :) :snowman:
all 4 hives are doing great. I need to buy some foundation and make some honey supers. ill be able to harvest 2 hives in a month or two and the other two i will leave until fall.
i almost forgot...
my daughter got stung on the arm for the first time today. She said she is glad that bee is dead so it cant sting anyone else because it was mean. Raider Bill was stung while standing about 40 feet from the hive. Bees like him :) :)
Quote from: thecfarm on March 10, 2014, 09:42:34 AM
bama20a,we all need to dream. 200 hives? :o That is a lot.Were they in the same area?
[
Sorry having got back sooner,Just got in.
No the 200 wasn't in the same area,I had them in several diff- places,My son lived in Mississippi,at the time & I had a lot over their. Mark,,,,,,
I don't understand why but bees will fly 50 feet past a crowd to sting me.
One thing though is my aches and pains feel better after a couple stings.
They are helping you. ;D
My wife goes through a lot of honey, with the price it is, there must be a lot of rich beekeepers.
If you figure it out by the hour and take off expenses, not quite so rich as you might think. :-\